Business Solutions & Software Group Blog

With the COVID-19 pandemic came many organizations who were forced, at the turn of a hat, to transition to remote work rather than in-office operations. While this came with many twists and turns, ultimately, businesses managed to figure it out in the end, and it’s all thanks to remote technology. Unfortunately, one of the biggest pitfalls of working remotely—security—still plagues many organizations.

While there are plenty of ways for a business to secure its resources, there are just as many ways for your employees to undermine these protections… often without even realizing that they’re doing so. Let’s focus on some of the cognitive biases that you and your team members might experience when it comes to your security.

It seems like there is a new data breach every time we turn around, and in most cases, these breaches expose the personal data of many people. The most recent breach in this troubling trend is for the popular social media website LinkedIn. This breach exposed 700 million profiles, an event which led them to be sold on a popular hackers forum. The scary part? LinkedIn denies that there was any data breach.

Any business owner responsible for drafting documents to explain processes or procedures knows that images can aid in this goal, giving your users a way to fully understand where to click and what to do. For Windows 10 users, there is a great feature built right into the operating system that lets you take screenshots, and we’re not just talking about the Prt Sc key. In fact, this proposed solution is more dynamic than that key could ever be.

Even though technology can provide some incredible returns on your investment, many businesses struggle with managing and maintaining it properly. Small businesses in particular have more restrictions placed on them compared to major enterprises, especially in regards to budget, workforce, or workspace. How can small businesses stay competitive against companies that have so many more resources available to them? Managed services is an ideal solution, and one that can at least alleviate some of the challenges that come from technology maintenance.

There comes a time when every good piece of technology needs to be replaced, whether it’s due to hardware failure or it’s simply obsolete. When this happens, it is critical that you take measures to safeguard data located on your old devices by properly deleting it. But before we get into that, let’s discuss some of the steps you want to take prior to deleting your data, as well as what the process entails.

Owner who takes their craft seriously has a telephone solution of some sort, even if it is just your traditional landline. But what if we told you that there is a much more dynamic, more flexible solution that offers all of the same features without the headaches associated with landlines? A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) solution might be just what you need to revolutionize your communication infrastructure.

New technology solutions are not always easy to implement, and the cloud in particular opens up a ton of opportunities for both great successes and agonizing failures. If you do not take certain issues seriously during your cloud implementation process, you might find yourself on the wrong end of this spectrum. Let’s examine some of the common pitfalls that some businesses encounter when it comes to implementing cloud solutions.

At this stage, you don’t need us to tell you that ransomware is bad. This threat has gone from being an emerging problem to one that is now sensationalized and commonplace in headlines and news stories around the world. According to a recent study, even organizations that do pay the ransom when they get infected by this threat are playing with fire.

The 2020 hack of SolarWinds saw a major disruption of the supply chain for many organizations around the world, including the U.S. government, but a recent survey shows that these organizations have felt varying degrees of effects from the hack itself. Furthermore, many have taken the hack as evidence that further information sharing must occur if we are to ever take the fight to cyberthreats.

For small businesses with a more limited budget and access to resources, technology management can be a major pain point. Fortunately for these small businesses, they have access to a tool that allows them to compete with larger organizations: managed IT services. A managed service provider can help a good small business become a great small business, and it all boils down to the way that technology is managed.

The cloud is used quite often in the business world, but different organizations use it in different ways. Some might use it to support a remote workforce, whereas others might use it to get around the up-front capital expenses of purchasing software licenses through the use of “as a service” offerings. Regardless, the cloud is capable of solving countless problems for the modern business, but only when it is implemented in a calculated and intentional way.

Some organizations are under the impression that they could keep operations moving without their IT infrastructure, but it would simply make doing business impossible. Therefore, it becomes critical to know when to invest in new technologies that can improve operations. Here are some of the critical considerations that any IT decision maker should keep at the top of their mind when looking into new technology for a business.

As one of the world’s most utilized word processors, Microsoft Word remains at the top because it provides organizations with the tools they need to be effective. Some of these features come in the form of keyboard shortcuts, templates, and save formatting, many of which are not known to employees. Here are some quick Word tips to help your employees be more effective with this software.

One of the best ways you can improve operations is by building a knowledge base consisting of policies, procedures, and any other information that needs to be accessed by the people who work for your organization or utilize its services. It’s well-known that businesses that have well-documented policies and procedures have less difficulty bringing new talent on board, experience fewer operational problems, and provide great resources for employees, customers, and vendors. Let’s take a look at what goes into creating a successful working knowledge base.

Spam filtering is great for keeping dangerous or wasteful messages from clogging up your inbox, but at the same time, there can be times when legitimate emails get flagged and sectioned off by accident. This is especially pertinent to business owners who do frequent outreach to vendors and valued customers. Here are some reasons your messages might get flagged as spam, as well as what you can do about it.

The cloud is a common tool for businesses, but organizations tend to utilize it in different ways. Some use it to support a remote workforce, while others use it to avoid financing new hardware on a regular basis. Some even use it to fill in the gaps created by product and service demand. However your business uses the cloud, chances are that you will encounter issues if you do not take measures to adequately manage it.

Would you believe us if we told you that the maps we have grown up looking at are remarkably skewed? That pull-down map in the front of every elementary school classroom probably wasn’t to scale, for one reason or another. Modern technology can make it possible for hackers to skew satellite imaging, and this could very well be used in the cybercrime avenue in the future. The developing technology of deepfake images could bring about a whole new type of threat.

When it comes to preventing operational issues, eliminating unnecessary costs, and cutting out things that keep you from working toward your goals, technology is crucial. Through the power of technology, your business can automate processes, improve productivity, aid in collaboration, and keep critical systems in proper working order. It all starts with the right IT services provider.

Ransomware is a threat that has seen exponential growth in recent years. We have witnessed it grow from a minor annoyance to a considerable global threat. Even the U.S. Justice Department has issued a declaration that they would begin investigating ransomware in much the same way that they would terrorism cases. Let’s take a look at how this policy could change the way your business should respond to these threats.